MT. PLEASANT–Former Wasatch Academy basketball player Caleb Lohner happily dances to the beat of the music in his own head.

Brigham Young University’s latest basketball recruit has been described as a massive basketball talent, a surfer, a skateboarder and a terrific guitarist. He stands 6-foot-8 in his bare feet and checks in at 230 pounds, giving him a college-ready body.

His long curly blond hair — recently trimmed to comply with the school’s honor code — makes him stand out on the court and just about anywhere else.

The secret to his luscious locks, he said on a recent radio interview on ESPN 960, is a product called “Diva Curl.”

“I’ve been blessed with curls,” Lohner said. “I don’t see a lot of people who have curly hair like me. It sucks (cutting his hair). I love my hair, but I’m all in with the program and it’s something I’m willing to sacrifice. It was hard for me to see it go but I can always grow it back.”

He grew up a BYU fan since his father, Matt, was a walk-on for the Cougar basketball team in the 1990s. Caleb admires NBA players Gordon Hayward, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green for their styles of play but says that ultimately, his favorite player has to be Larry Bird, who retired in 1992 — nearly 10 years before Lohner was even born.

Last fall, Cougar coach Mark Pope was trying to put the finishing touches on signing Lohner’s Wasatch Academy teammate, Richie Saunders, and was in Mount Pleasant for a game.

“This cat (Lohner) put on a show,” Pope said, relating the story on BYUtv’s “BYU Sports Nation.” “He hit a game-winner and was walking off the court while the ball was in the air. I was like, ‘Who is this guy?’ He has an unbelievable spirit when he turns it on. He rolls differently that just about anyone else in college basketball.”

Lohner exhibited some of that spirit and uniqueness when he suddenly announced he was asking out of the letter of intent he signed with Utah almost a year ago to enter the transfer portal.

His uncle and coach at Wasatch Academy, Dave Evans, said Lohner was close to the previous BYU staff and likely would have committed to the Cougars as a junior if Dave Rose hadn’t announced his retirement in March of 2019.

As he adjusted to becoming a Ute, something didn’t quite feel right for Lohner.

“At the end of the day there were so many pushing and pulling factors during my decision-making that I didn’t ultimately choose where I wanted to go,” Lohner said.

Now he’s a Cougar.

Bracken Funk is a former Lone Peak and college basketball player. In his post-college days, Funk is the director of operations at the Renaissance Space Academy in Lehi. In his spare time he is the public address announcer for the Wasatch Academy basketball team, making the hour and 15-minute drive to Mount Pleasant for home games.

He’s had ringside seats to Lohner’s basketball development.

He’s also the PA announcer at the Huntsman Center for the University of Utah men’s basketball team, so Lohner’s defection to the team down south wasn’t the best news he received this spring.

“You can’t paint this like I’m really excited he left Utah,” Funk said with a laugh. “I think BYU got a steal with him. He has such extreme explosiveness. He can take one dribble, one step to the basket and dunk it. But the first thing I noticed in the very first game I saw him play was his first quick step to get around a defender, like an elite player does. He can create space and shoot the ball. He’s a guy you want stretching the floor for you.”

Funk said he was impressed with Lohner channeling his “inner Dennis Rodman” as a ball-hawking rebounder.

“One of the things I love about the guy is when the ball is in the air,” Funk said. “I can’t remember who they were playing — maybe Springville — but he had like 12 offensive rebounds in the first quarter. He just goes and finds the basketball. That’s one of those things some players have and some don’t.”

Funk began his college career at Fresno State but eventually transferred to BYU-Hawaii. Adjusting to college basketball, he said, can be a big challenge.

“It can obviously go either way,” he said. “There is a lot of mental toughness in a player that doesn’t exist until they understand what’s happening at college. To be an elite college-level player you have to come in with a level of discipline. It will be interesting to see how Caleb handles that first year. It will be the definition of who he is as a player. You either learn what you need that first year or you don’t.”

Lohner, who played his first two seasons of high school basketball in Texas, lived with his uncle while attending Wasatch Academy the past two years. Evans said lots of things come easily to Lohner, but that he is a hard worker as well.

“Caleb would often wake me up early, earlier than 5 when I usually get up, and he would be like ‘Hey, let’s go shoot. Let’s go lift,'” Evans said. “I’ve gotten calls from college coaches saying that they don’t know if he likes basketball enough. I would tell them, ‘You don’t know the kid, then.’

“He spends so much time lifting and training and shooting. Other times of the day he’s building a skate ramp or learning to surf, and he’s an amazing musician.”

Lohner has joined his new BYU teammates in Provo, participating in pickup basketball games as well as individual drills.

“I’m a very versatile basketball player,” Lohner said. “At the end of the day, whatever Coach Pope needs me to do, I can accept that and try to help the team win. What gets me really excited is that Coach Pope is recruiting guys with all the same mindset and all the same mentality that we want to win. I’m so stoked and so freaking pumped to get things going.”